Moving Target Read online

“Yes.” She could barely answer him as aroused as she was. Her entire focus was centered between her legs, on her slick channel just waiting for him. She wanted him inside her, his cock filling every inch. She tried to urge him with her body.

  His laugh was low and rough.

  “In a hurry, darlin’? We have plenty of time.”

  “Tease.” She puffed the word out on a breath.

  “Absolutely.”

  Then he stopped talking and concentrated on what he was doing. He slid one thigh between hers, keeping her leg upper leg on his hip, and thrust two fingers deep inside her. With the pad of his thumb on her clit, he moved his fingers in and out in a slow, steady rhythm that had every pulse in her body beating in response. He kept up a steady rhythm, his strokes never slowing, and all the while, he murmured in her ear the incredibly erotic things he wanted to do to her. With her.

  Kate had never experienced anything like this in her life. What she’d thought was sex wasn’t even in the same ball park as this. Quinn held her firm, pinning her in place as his fingers glided in and out and his thumb played a wicked dance on her clit. He eased a third finger into her and with one stroke triggered a climax. She shook with the spasms, her sex clutching his fingers again and again.

  “That’s it, darlin’. Just like that. Let it happen, I’ve got you. Love feeling that sweet little pussy. That’s it.”

  When the spasms died, he eased his fingers from her. “Look at me, Kate.”

  She looked over her shoulder, and he raised his hand to his mouth and carefully licked each finger clean of her juices. It was one of the most erotic things she had ever seen.

  Sliding his leg from between hers, he eased her onto her back and rolled on top of her, cradling her head between his palms. Heat flared in his dark eyes with a hunger she was sure reflected in her own.

  “Incredible,” he murmured.

  It certainly was.

  He kissed her, tasting her lips with the tip of his tongue, probing her mouth with kisses that stole her breath, his tongue wild, tasting everywhere. Their tongues met in a choreographed ballet.

  He drew back and nibbled on her lips before lowering his head to take one of her nipples into his mouth. The pull and suction ignited the flame inside her again, fanned by the scraping of his teeth against the sensitive bud. He moved from one breast to the other, one nipple to the other until the tips were so sensitive she was sure she’d come from just one more touch.

  He shifted slightly and traced a line between her breasts with the tip of his tongue. He took a moment to swirl the indentation of her navel before moving down to the top of her slit. Opening her labia, he licked the sensitive flesh up and down and then up again, then tugged on her clit with his teeth.

  And just like that she was ready for him again.

  “Please,” she begged. “Oh, please.”

  “Right now.”

  Rising to his knees, Quinn lifted her legs and placed them on his shoulders. Positioning his cock at her opening, he eased himself inside her with a slow, steady stroke. Her inner walls clenched around him, adding to the erotic thrust and scrape of his erection.

  “Look at me, Kate.” His voice was thick with need.

  When she did, she was sure she could see into his soul and he could see into hers. It was an incredibly emotional moment in a maelstrom of emotions.

  Quinn pulled her to him with his big hands, stroking her back, the swell of her hips. He coasted his hands beneath her buttocks to stroke the cleft between her buttocks, the tip of one finger pressing against the opening there.

  He began the slow rhythmic slide of his cock in and out with measured strokes, the angle of her body allowing him deep penetration. In and out, back and forth. Thrust, retreat, drive. The slow glide and drag of his swollen shaft drove her up to that peak of arousal.

  Kate locked her ankles behind his neck to pull her into him even more tightly. He held her at the edge, not giving her the release she sought while she silently pleaded with her eyes and her body.

  Please, please, please.

  Ready to explode himself, he increased the pace until he thrust hard into her one last time. They climaxed together, bodies shaking and clenching as they fell into a pool of intense, erotic sensation.

  Finally the spasms slowed, the shudders abated, and their breathing returned to something close to normal. In the aftermath, she felt a joyfulness in their coupling she’d never experienced before in her life. She felt him not just in her body but her heart. She felt as if she were home.

  Quinn eased her legs down slowly and slid from her body. Propping himself on one elbow and caressed her face with the tips of his fingers, tracing the line of her jaw, her eyelids, the shape of her lips.

  “You are…incredible.”

  She smiled. “I can say the same.”

  They lay in comfortable silence, neither finding the need to speak, for a long time. Finally, Kate spoke.

  “Quinn?” Was this the right time to ask him?

  “What is it, darlin’?”

  “You said you’ve been alone for four years. That you hadn’t been with a woman for a long time. You know everything about me now. Can you tell me what happened to you?”

  “I never talk about it with anyone.” His voice was sharp with pain.

  She cuddled against his hard body, her hand resting on his chest. “Aren’t you the one who told me that some things are better if you share them?”

  “Throwing my own words back at me?” His fingers drifted up and down her arm.

  “Absolutely.”

  Silence covered them like a suffocating blanket, but Kate made herself wait. When he spoke it was in a low voice she almost didn’t recognize.

  “Four years ago my wife and child were murdered.”

  Shock ran through her like a bolt of electricity. Whatever she’d expected, that wasn’t it.

  “Oh, god.” She couldn’t figure out what to say. “I’m sorry. I never would have asked if I’d known. I’m so, so sorry.”

  His body was so rigid it almost vibrated. “It’s okay. I haven’t talked about it in so long it might actually do me some good.”

  “If it’s too painful for you…God, am I stupid. Of course it’s painful for you.”

  “I can do this, Kate. Just stay curled up against me like this and listen, okay?”

  “All right.” She sifted her fingers through the curls of hair on his chest, rubbing them lightly over the sweat-slickened skin.

  When he spoke again, the voice might have belonged to a stranger. “Four years ago, I had a great job, a wonderful wife I loved more than life and an amazing two-year-old daughter. My folks were retiring and getting ready to enjoy the rest of their life.” He paused, and his swallow was audible. “Then, in an instant, it was wiped out. Gone.”

  “What do you mean gone?”

  Quinn tightened his hand on her arm. “Like I told you earlier, I was a federal prosecutor in San Antonio, part of the South Texas district. I had just finished the trial of some real badass scumbags. They made millions smuggling people and drugs across the border. A very rough group. Killing meant nothing to them.”

  Kate stroked her hand over his chest in circles, feeling the heavy thudding of his heart beneath her touch, the tension in his body. “Go on,” she urged.

  “It was a long trial, but we got the convictions and stiff sentences we wanted. Then I heard from my sources that the guys I convicted put out a contract on me. I foolishly ignored what they said because those kinds of people make threats all the time. I was just so glad to see them locked away and be done with the whole case.”

  He tightened his arm around her almost reflexively. “I was in the mood to celebrate once the sentences were handed down. I called my wife, Lisa, and told her to bring our daughter Nicole and meet me in front of the courthouse at noon. We were standing there on the sidewalk, chatting with some of the other attorneys in the office, when a car came by, slowed down, and someone began firing.”

  “Oh my god
.” Kate could imagine the horror of the scene. She wanted to tell Quinn to stop, to leave it alone, but she had a feeling that once he’d started he needed to get it all out.

  “It happened so fast,” he went on. “No one could react in time. I was only wounded in the arm, but Lisa and Nikki were killed instantly. God, there was so much blood. So much blood. And there was nothing anyone could do for them.”

  Kate just kept moving her hand in slow circles on his chest and pressing her body against him, not knowing what else to do.

  “Well,” he continued, “I was hell bent on vengeance. I shifted my case load to other prosecutors and spent all my time looking not only for the shooters but also for who gave the order. And I was close.” He paused for a heartbeat. “Too close for them, I guess.”

  “Something else happened?” Kate knew even as she asked that one more horrendous fact was going to come to light.

  “It seems they weren’t finished sending me messages. My parents were driving home from Austin on the back roads one night in the rain. Someone ran them off the road and over an incline, then shot out the gas tank. It exploded. A passing car saw it happen, but there was nothing they could do to help. And the shooter’s car took off too fast to even get a license number.”

  He finally turned toward her again. In the fading light slanting in through the windows, she saw the stark lines of his face, like a stone mask, but his voice held so much heartbreak that Kate could hardly bear to listen to any more.

  “Oh, god, Quinn.”

  “Anyway, there I was. I had nothing left to lose, did I? I was determined to get those bastards, so I sold my house, quit my job, and spent every waking minute digging in the sewers finding them. And finally, I did.” He raised his other arm and covered his eyes with it, shutting out images best forgotten. “Finally, I did.”

  “You found all these people and brought them in?”

  “In a manner of speaking.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I delivered them all to the prosecutor’s office in San Antonio. The living and the dead.”

  The tone of his voice, like cold death, let Kate know that was the end of it. All that he could dredge up and spit out.

  “No wonder you hide away up here, shutting everything else out. So…you don’t work anymore?”

  “Everyone in our family believed in lots of insurance.” He gave a short, bitter laugh. “My parents had listed me as the beneficiary on their policies. And Lisa and I had large policies on each other. If anything happened to one of us, the other would be able to provide for Nikki. Well, that didn’t exactly work out, did it? So I took all the money and invested it. Maybe I’d be better off if I did have to work. Less time to think about things.”

  “Did you ever think about going back to your job?” She held her breath waiting for his answer.

  Please, no.

  “I lost my taste for it. For everything. These days, I’m more comfortable being by myself up here in the hills. People around here know me, and they respect me enough not to intrude.”

  “Oh, Quinn.”

  “So,” he said, cutting off further questions, “now you know it all.”

  She wet her lips with the tip of her tongue, her mouth feeling dry as dust. In that moment, she thought being dead was not nearly as bad as being the one who survived. “I can’t begin to imagine the pain you still feel,” she said at last. “But I know that resolving the situation was the right thing to do.”

  He lifted one of her hands and played with the fingers. “So here we are, you and I, each dragging our baggage with us. I know this sounds weird, but something pulled me over to the side of the road. Made me stop. Made me feel…connected to you.” He leaned over and kissed her, then fell back again. “I never believed in Fate before this, but I don’t know what else to call it.”

  “I feel it, too. Don’t you see? As if we’re too halves of the same whole suddenly fitting together. How weird is that?”

  “You’ve made me feel alive again, darlin’.” He smoothed her hair back from her forehead, watching her, still trying to absorb the speed with which it had all happened. “I want you. I need you. I don’t know what I have left to give to anyone anymore, but whatever there is, I want to give it to you.”

  “Then that’s the answer. Whatever happens, happens. No more second guessing. I’ll take whatever you can give me.” She climbed on top of him, pressing full length against his hard nakedness, and kissed him until they were both breathless.

  They slept little that night, unable to get enough of each other, feasting, reveling, touching everywhere. The discovery and acceptance of their feelings was high octane fuel that stoked their need.

  Quinn explored every inch of her body, learning how to make her respond in ways she didn’t know she could. She in turn aroused him with her hands, her tongue, her lips. She loved the sounds he made when she took him into her mouth, his groans as the tension built in his body.

  It was raw, impassioned sex, earthy and unrestrained. He took her every way possible, prolonging her orgasms, watching with those glittering eyes as she shuddered in a blazing, earth-shattering response. Yet no matter how many times they made love, their hunger refused to be sated. A door had been opened, and they couldn’t rush through it fast enough.

  By morning they were finally spent.

  Kate felt ravaged. She was sure walking would be a problem, but she didn’t care. They had not just made love, they had mated, each to the other. She was his, and he would take care of her. She closed her eyes, secure in the circle of his arms. Physically and emotionally drained, she was asleep in seconds.

  ****

  Quinn watched her lying next to him, her body replete, her breath a soft whisper. This powerful connection forged between them was full of promise. She had touched his soul, this scared, desperate woman, and he had poured himself into her.

  Kate.

  His heart was so full he thought it would burst. Kate had shown him how to love again. Now Lisa and Nikki might finally rest in peace, and that came with the redemption of his soul. At last, he might be able to live with himself. To find peace. Again, he felt Lisa’s approving presence, and tears gathered behind his eyelids.

  He’d failed last time when he should have been alert. This time would be different. He knew it. This time he’d be prepared.

  At sunrise, he finally fell asleep. For the first time in four years, he could close his eyes without pain searing his heart and the bloody after-image of Lisa and Nikki, lying dead at his feet, burned onto his eyes. Unexpected peace stole over him.

  He felt whole again.

  Chapter Twelve

  Quinn was in his kitchen making coffee, putting off the call to Jake as long as possible. His cell was on vibrate so as not to wake Kate. He swallowed a smile as he thought of all the reasons she was sleeping so late. When the phone buzzed against his hip, he grabbed it and flipped it open.

  Shit!

  “Quinn?” Jake’s voice thundered across the connection.

  “Yup. Right here.”

  “I thought you were going to call me this morning.”

  “Sorry, compadre. My fault. Time just got away from me.”

  “Any other time I’d be overjoyed. Are you alone?”

  Quinn frowned. “Why? Do I have to be?”

  “You might want to have this conversation in private.”

  “Listen, Jake. What’s going on? I talked to…the person you’re interested in last night, and she’s willing to meet with you. But just you.” He quietly let himself out onto the front porch and settled on the bench at the far end. “Even though you shot your mouth off yesterday when I asked you not to. So what’s up?”

  “Please try to understand this isn’t just any old case here, okay?” Jake’s voice held a pleading note. “There’s a hell of a lot at stake.”

  Quinn’s grip on the phone tightened. “No kidding. Tell me something I don’t know.”

  Silence hummed along the connection, then Jake
cleared his throat. “I have someone here who wants to talk to you.”

  Quinn felt anger rise within him, tinged with the edge of fear for Kate. Thanks, Jake.

  “Long time, Quinn.” Dean Morgan’s deep voice resonated across the connection. “And Jake really didn’t have much choice in this. He knew what he had to do.”

  “Hello, Dean.” God damn it. Quinn’s body tensed. “What can I do for you today?”

  “Jake tells me you might have someone staying at your place that we’d all like to talk to.” He paused. “A woman every gun in the Osuna cartel is hunting.”

  “Jake has a very active imagination.”

  “If he’s right, I want to know how you met her and where she is right at this moment.”

  “You don’t want much, do you?” Kate would freak out six different ways if she knew anyone but Jake had this information. Damn, damn, damn.

  “Don’t play games here, Quinn. You can’t just waltz into town out of nowhere after four years, ask about a case the whole DOJ is focused on and not expect people to react. You have no idea what’s at stake.”

  “Is that a fact?” Now the anger was surging through him and his good intentions were rapidly disappearing. “It seems to me I might know better than anyone else on your staff what’s at stake in situations like this.”

  Silence hummed across the air. “I’m sorry. You’re right, of course. Forgive my insensitivity. But you’re going to have to bring the Burke woman into this office.”

  “Damn it, Dean. That woman’s life is at stake.”

  “No one knows that more than we do. But you can’t just keep her hidden up there in the hills, Quinn. You need to bring her in.”

  “Like hell,” Quinn exploded. “The office didn’t do a very good job of keeping Lisa and Nikki safe, and they were only bystanders.”

  “Be reasonable.” Dean kept his voice steady and calm. “We had no way of anticipating what happened.”

  “You should have and I should have. We didn’t, so this time I’m taking precautions. Besides, what makes you think she can tell you anything?”

  “She can at least give us an idea why the hell the whole Osuna cartel is looking for her.”